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Philadelphia Eagles Rumors: Terrell Owens Wants To Return To The Team, Says He Can Still Contribute

By Nathan Francis
Published on: 17:41 PST, Oct 10, 2015

The Philadelphia Eagles are rumored to be looking to the past for some help this season, with former receiver Terrell Owens reportedly offering to come back and help.

Owens has hinted about a comeback a few times in the past few years, including once already this season, but his latest offer is to come back and help the offensively challenged Philadelphia Eagles. In an interview with 94WIP in Philadelphia, Owens said he could “[a]bsolutely” help the Eagles this season.

“You think that I shouldn’t be playing right now?” Owens said (via CBS Philadelphia). “I definitely could be playing right now, but based on my character — yeah, people can say, ‘Oh he’s 41.’ ”

Terrell Owens has always been known for his superb conditioning, and he wasn’t shy about sharing that in the latest interview. “I’m not your average 41-year-old,” Owens said. “And when I was on that football field, I felt like I was the best thing out there and it was due to how hungry I was and how dedicated I was.”

Though Owens is 41, he says he has never officially retired from the NFL and would still welcome a comeback.

It is unclear if the Eagles have actually been in discussions with Owens, or whether the team would even want his help at this point. Though the Eagles have struggled this year on offense, coach Chip Kelly appears to be more or less set in his personnel and more questioning the team’s execution.

Though if the rumors are true and Terrell Owens does come back to the Philadelphia Eagles, it would be at a huge cost to the wide receiver. Owens is just a few months away from eligibility for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and he would be giving that up if he were to make an NFL comeback.

This is actually not the first time this year that Terrell Owens has offered his services to a needy NFL team this year. Just a few weeks before the Philadelphia Eagles rumors, Owens made overtures to the Dallas Cowboys to see if they might want his help.

The Cowboys had just suffered the losses of Dez Bryant and Tony Romo, and it appeared the team would need some big help offensively. Owens said he was willing to put aside the bad blood that once existed (including when he publicly accused Romo of favoring Jason Witten, and when Witten in turn reportedly helped usher Owens out of Dallas) to make a comeback.

“We all know what happened when I was there, and there were some things said where it may have fractured the relationship between myself and Witten and Romo,” Owens said (via Fox Sports). “Time has passed, and hopefully they know that I’ve moved on beyond that, and maybe hopefully they have. But for me, it’s all about giving myself an opportunity. That’s all I ever really wanted.”

A comeback could be a very long way off for Terrell Owens, however. As Josh Alper of ProFootballTalk noted, not many teams are looking to sign a long retired wide receiver.

“Owens said he feels he’d be a ‘viable’ option for the team given a week or so to round into form. As we’ve seen with the lack of interest in a Randy Moss comeback, though, it looks like the NFL has decided that Owens will remain a former player.”

The rumors of Terrell Owens returning to the Philadelphia Eagles could have other complications. Even if he has remained in impeccable condition, Owens has been away from the NFL since 2010, and would likely have difficulty keeping up with the speed of the game. And he would have to jump into coach Chip Kelly’s high-speed offense, which would likely require some kind of learning curve.

[Picture by Win McNamee / Getty Images]

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